Time bled past as Liyue Harbor fell into a new routine.
It didn't take long before Liyue became the new trade center for the region, and it wasn't rare to see merchants from other regions arrive by boat. The streets were full of people, all with their own lives and responsibilities and wants.
Naturally, the chaos outside remained. But the militia remained steadfast in their duty to protect the people. Or the Millelith, as they now called themselves. It was their duty to slay the demons that dared to approach the city's borders, and spurred by the Guili's near-destruction, their fervor was almost worrying.
Guizhong remained the 'head' of the city, taking care of internal affairs far above the others. Many who worked with her expressed admiration at her efficiency and confidence. But I knew it was a position she did not like, even if she had hundreds of years of experience. It wasn't rare to find her holed up in my room, silently wondering whether she should plot her own death and whatnot.
Morax continued in his silent defense of Liyue against the gods, and the earth itself trembled as he brought down dozens of gods every month. Yet he'd confessed that the duty felt lighter now, knowing that Guizhong and Liyue had I in its midst. We would also watch the ocean and the stars together whenever he returned. A rare moment of rest for the blockhead before he returned to his duty.
And as for me?
I remained an instructor to Tianqiu, living in my dojo and occasionally venturing down to the harbor whenever I got bored. Much of that initial admiration had disappeared after my constant appearance, but the awe remained. At least they'd gotten comfortable enough for me to head out and play my lute by the streets again. That was nice.
Tianqiu himself often joined the Millelith in their crusade against the demons, and he'd become quite the legendary figure. His ability with the sword easily surpassed everyone else in Liyue, and no demons could get close without being split apart. He even earned a nickname! The 'Great Moonlight Sword' they called him, in reference to how his jade sword occasionally glimmered whenever he got into rhythm with his own [Swords Dance].
And it was indeed [Swords Dance], just like the one I could use thanks to my Genshin System. He'd learnt it after just a week of training, and he'd then improved to 2★ after around a month of constant training. He was currently inching his way towards 3★, but I somewhat hoped he'd take a little longer—I still needed to find a way to increase my [Instructor] to 4★.
Tianqiu never claimed his skill as his own though, often promoting that he'd learnt his techniques from me. Honestly, with how enthusiastic he was, he sounded like some merchant selling my services to others. The mental image made me and Guizhong giggle when I shared it once.
Sadly, despite Tianqiu's promotions, no one else had arrived at my dojo asking for lessons. For one, it seemed people were still apprehensive about asking for that. But it was also true that swords just weren't that common here; spears were far more popular, with it being Morax's favored weapon and all. Maybe that'd change as Tianqiu's fame continued to grow, but who knows?
…
It's still hard to believe that it'd been months since I first awoke. In some ways, I'd been half-hoping that someone would've showed up claiming they knew who I was before my memory was wiped. After all, my name was practically known all throughout the region now; surely someone I once knew would've appeared.
But no. Such a thing never happened.
I sighed slightly. The storyteller's voice passed by me unheard, and the soft chatter and laughter from the crowd around me faded into distant buzzing. The cup of tea I'd been drinking began tasting like ash on my tongue, but I forced myself to drink it anyway. I'd paid good Mora to be here—might as well pretend that I enjoyed it like the rest.
This was a common occurrence, unfortunately. It was that growing dread I usually felt whenever I caught sight of Celestia, except it was now a semi-common thing. A feeling of knowing that something terrible was coming, but not quite knowing what it was or when it'd happen.
But it was relieving to find that Morax actually felt the same. Once, during our quiet moments together, he confessed that he'd been feeling off. That there were signs of something, and he asked me to protect Liyue if he couldn't. When I then told him that I felt similar, he was both relieved and glad, knowing that his instincts weren't screaming for false alarms.
I held back another sigh.
[Venti - Ascendant
Body: 16
Speed: 14
Mind: 11
Energy: 20
Elemental (Anemo): 20]
I didn't share the sentiment. Because knowing that even a god as powerful as Morax felt the anxiety of something big coming only made the feeling worse for me. It was why I'd been using most of my time increasing my strength. Training, fishing, rolling the Gacha—anything that could give me a leg up.
Unfortunately, most of the Primogems I gathered throughout the past few months were from fishing in Teyvat and finding treasure chests. I first thought that fishing in my Personal World would become an incredible source of Primogems, but I was wrong. I could only fish up a fishy adepti once a week there, which meant I'd get only 4 incredible catches a month.
It felt almost…arbitrary, and Chubby agreed, saying that it was a restriction placed by the Developers. Who those Developers were, I didn't know.
Whatever the case, it meant that most of my catches were instead consumed to increase my Attributes. Which was fine—I'd even gotten my Energy and Elemental to 20 because of it!
I drank the last of my tea and glanced back at the storyteller. He was still enthusiastically speaking, sweeping his arms wide as he retold an old myth about the region's creation. Seeing that, I decided to quietly leave the teahouse. One of the waitresses worried I'd gotten bored of it, but I just said I had something else to do.
I walked along the streets for some time, before I inevitably found myself at the harbor once more. I smiled wryly; I always ended up arriving here whenever I was deep in thought. Then again, Morax seemed to experience the same, so maybe it was just Liyue Harbor's layout that-
Suddenly, my body froze as a deep chill ran through my spine. I quickly looked up, and I was horrified as I saw massive auroras spread across the skies, seeming to originate from the island that floated high in the sky. I looked at everyone else, but no one seemed to notice the very eye-catching event happening right above them.
Wait-, no! It wasn't that they didn't notice—the whole world had frozen. Time itself had stopped, and everyone else had been frozen in time!
What the hell was going on?
[Hostile Interference eliminated]
I frowned. Hostile interference-, wait, did that mean Celestia just stopped time from moving!? And for what!?
[Celestial Decree has been issued, heard only by those Celestia claims as worthy. All gods are to participate in the Archon War. Only seven Archons could claim the thrones, and in doing so they would bring the seven Elements into Teyvat]
I furrowed my brows. "Archon War…?" I repeated. The term brought untold amounts of dread into my chest. But more than that-, "Wait, so am I a participant as well? You mentioned that Celestia tried freezing me as well."
[...Negative. The Gnosis Celestia has prepared will not have any significant interactions with the User]
I frowned. Was it just me, or did my own System sound a little hesitant in the beginning there? Still, it was somewhat comforting to know that I wasn't technically a participant of the Archon War that was going to happen soon. My System was just trying to protect me from something it deemed hostile.
…still, I suppose I now knew why I never felt any good vibes from that island in the sky.
The time-stop lasted for quite a while. So long that I began to feel bored and decided to play around a little. The people didn't react when I came just inches from their faces, the waters didn't ripple when I touched it, and nothing made any sound when I tapped them. Only I was unfrozen, and I decided to just sit on a bench as I waited for Celestia to finish their decree.
It was comical, really. Here I was, sitting on a bench like some merchant waiting for their merchandise to come. Except I was waiting for time to resume instead.
Eventually, after who knew how long, time finally resumed. The auroras spread across the sky vanished, and the world regained its sounds. Some people blinked as they saw me literally vanished, only to reappear on a bench. But they soon continued with their tasks, assuming it was another one of my oddities as an adepti.
I sighed gently as I leaned my head on the stone brick wall behind me. It was certain that Morax had heard about Celestia's decree; his ability to control Geo was practically a match for one of the seven Elements my System was talking about. I wasn't quite sure about Guizhong, but since she was considered a genuine god, I assumed she'd gotten the message as well.
I wondered how that'd work if she does become an Archon though.
I closed my eyes. I wasn't really a participant, but I knew the whole schtick about the Archon War. Should I pretend that I knew nothing about it? I wasn't sure how well that'd stick—Guizhong was notoriously good at seeing through my lies. But if others knew I somehow knew about the Archon War, would they consider me a god as well?
I shivered. Ugh, that would be terrible. Not just because I wasn't a god, but also because that was just inviting more trouble.
…guess the only thing I could do was hope and pray no one got curious enough.
Thoroughly wrung out, I decided to sit on that bench for quite a while, silently watching as the people went about their day. The future might be perilous, but at least for now, I enjoyed the relative calm of this city I called home.